I was the senior employee in the QC department with over 13 years of experience and knowledge and was never ever treated this way.

Karen Muth-Eckenroth

October 19,2023 at 3:23PM UTC

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I was the senior employee in the QC department with over 13 years of experience and knowledge and was never ever treated this way. Basically I was kicked to the curb and told that I was done that same night, the humiliation of it and unethical behavior was outrageous to say the least. There was no offer of reasonable compensation at all. Third shift wasn’t an option for me hence I live about an hour away. You see there were other as well talking about retirement too.The HR manager then proceeds to inform me that they eliminated my QC position and I had two choices, either retire or go to third shift. I didn’t realize that you shouldn’t be talking about retirement until you were actually doing it, I guess. The fist words out of HR was, ”heard that you were talking about retirement”. There sat the GM, HR and the production manager. I was called up front on Oct 5th at 10:45 pm right at the end of my shift. I wforced to retire from my QC position

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AnonymousOctober 19,2023 at 5:05PM UTC
Talk to an employment attorney. My understanding is they cannot do that.
Jennifer GriffithsOctober 19,2023 at 7:24PM UTC
Seems rather reckless and hard to believe that the HR Manager approved this action. It seems some type of elderly discrimination. First file with Unemployment and it will be interesting how they will defend their action. The Unemployment office will have to talk to the supervisor and HR. If they feel that their action was squirrely they can tell you and then you can talk to an Employment attorney. Depending on what state this happened you have alot of options.
S ReganOctober 19,2023 at 7:29PM UTC
Sorry to hear that. But sounds like they didn't deserve you and you were better off away from that toxicity.
Karen Muth-EckenrothNovember 5,2023 at 7:58PM UTC
You have no idea how toxic this place had become. It was rather disgusting.
AnonymousOctober 19,2023 at 9:42PM UTC
Ageism. You have a valid case. I would talk with an employment attorney. Hopefully, you have a pension or are eligible for Social Security. Otherwise, make sure you file for unemployment. As for "talking about it," before being ready, I talked about it for six months and then gave them three months' notice. About six weeks after the announcement, they came to me with an "exit plan," which was about two-three weeks earlier than my notice, which was a good transition point for both of us. I was paid through my notice, though. By then, I could collect my full Social Security benefit.
maria roseOctober 21,2023 at 6:25PM UTC
Obviously, the company that you experienced this situation was undertaking a revamping of their entire workforce and I am sorry that you had to deal with the unexpected method used.
It is a quite frequently used tactic to make what they call redundant jobs as in your case the QC position disappear and by the letter of the law they have offered you a chance to remain working ( third shift) or retire. Yes, it does feel like you were being pushed out the door and it didn’t help that HR showed up and demanded an immediate response. I hope you got your retirement package and benefits based on your years worked even though you were not expecting to stop working yet. It’s nothing to do with you or your job performance, it was a mere financial decision based on your salary cost to the company and the cost savings they would have with your salary removed from the labor costs. I have experienced 2 workplace situations where the company is “downsizing “ to structurally be financially sustainable to keep operating and by using an advisory company that specializes in their version of ”efficiency “ requires the company to lower its staff numbers starting with the higher paid employees first who have the longest time employed by the company.
What I advise for anyone who is working and approaching a certain age level to have/make a tentative plan for their future work time. We, all have an ideal schedule of when we would like to stop/phase out of working to get the maximum of retirement benefits. You should not be acquiring more debt at this point of your career ( except emergency expenses) and be increasing your savings or at least paying down substantially the debt you have. In other words, expect that you have a limited time option to make it still working at your job and you will be better prepared if the company has other plans for its employees.
Karen Muth-EckenrothNovember 5,2023 at 7:53PM UTC
There wasn’t any compensation offered what so ever from this company. The HR Manager even messed up sending me vital information about my life insurance policy I had with them. So now I have scramble to make sure it’s not canceled. Exceptional incompetence.
AnonymousOctober 30,2023 at 3:52PM UTC
Lawyer up! A good employment attorney will likely not get you your job back but might be able with your good evidence to get you a severance package that you deserve.
Karen Muth-EckenrothNovember 5,2023 at 7:52PM UTC
I can’t find anyone willing to at least listen to me and find out if I actually have a case
Karen Muth-EckenrothNovember 5,2023 at 7:51PM UTC
I was the senior QC employee and the oldest, as in age. They only eliminated my position even though there were six of us in the department. I’ve heard that they are methodically eliminating people that have experience and knowledge that have been there years.